Folding equipment



Aug. 16, 1966 J. LOPEZ FOLDING EQUIPMENT Filed Aug. 22, 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 JOHN LOPEZ drive/WW5 6, 1966 J. LOPEZ FOLDING EQUIPMENT 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 22, 1963 INVENTOR. JOHN L 0P5 Z Aug. 16, 1966 J. LOPEZ 3,266,391

FOLDING EQUIPMENT Filed Aug. 22 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR. JOHN LOPZ BY Ri a, Wfl w Aug. 16, 1966 J. LOPEZ 3,266,391

FOLDING EQUIPMENT Filed Aug. 22, 1963- 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 FIG.

INVENTOR JOHN L OPE Z BY M, WW' M United States Patent 3,266,391 FOLDING EQUIPMENT John Lopez, Westfield, N.J., assignor to Universal Corrugated Box Machinery Corporation, Linden, N.J., a corporation of New Jersey Filed Aug. 22, 1963, Ser. No. 303,741 4 Claims. (CI. 93-52) This application is a continuation-in-part of co-pending application Serial No. 745,979, filed July 1, 1958, now US. Patent No. 3,122,069.

This invention relates to the art of folded boxes and more particularly to belt type folding equipment for automatic folding of corrugated box blanks of the type that comprise four panels in side by side relation that have been pre-scored to facilitate folding of the two outer panels into substantially edge to edge juxtaposition.

As conducive to an understanding of the invention, it is noted that during the automatic folding by belt folders of corrugated box blanks, since the folding belts of the folder are spiralled 180 degrees to effect corresponding progressive folding of the outer panels of the blanks, the outer panels will be in the spiral portion of the folding belts while the other panels will be advanced by the horizontal conveyor associated with the folding belts.

Since the outer panels will take a longer time to reach the outlet of the folding equipment than the other panels moved by the horizontal conveyor, due to the delay imparted by the spiral portion of the folding belts, it is apparent that unless the speed of the folding belts with respect to the speed of the horizontal conveyor, can be varied dependent upon the size of the blank being folded, the outer panels may not be aligned with the other panels.

As a result of such lack of alignment, the resultant box will not be square and hence cannot be opened properly for filling, without breaking of the corners of the box so that such improperly formed box must be discarded with resultant waste.

Furthermore, where the folded box blanks are opened by automatic equipment, if they are not truly square, such automatic equipment will not function properly.

It is accordingly among the objects of the invention to provide a belt type folding equipment which will dependably advance open box blanks in sequence at a relatively high rate of speed and will fold the outer panels of such blanks into substantially edge to edge juxtaposition and which may readily and automatically be adjusted without stoppage of the equipment, to align the panels of the folded box blank, thereby providing a folded box that is square and which may be opened without breakage of the corners thereof.

According to the invention, a conveyor is provided which successively advances open box blanks in sequence and means are provided as the blanks are advanced to fold the outer panels of the blank inwardly so that the edges thereof are substantially in juxtaposition and thereupon to effect relative movement of the folded panels with respect to the adjacent panels to which they are hinged to effect substantially precise alignment of the folded panels with the panels with which they are associated.

More particularly, the folding means comprises endless belts adapted to engage the outer surface of the panels to be folded and means are provided individually to control the speed of such endless belts so that relative movement can be imparted between each folded panel and the panel to which it is connected, to effect such precise alignment.

In the accompanying drawings in which is shown one of various possible embodiments of the several features of the invention, 7

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the equipment,

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view thereof,

FIG. 3 is a detail sectional view taken along line 33 of FIG. 1,

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic perspective view with parts broken away, showing the belt speed adjustment mechanism,

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line 55 of FIG. 4,

FIG. 6 is a detail end view of the eccentric mount for the idler roller,

FIGS. 7, 8 and 10 are sectional views taken along lines 77, 8-8 and 1010 of FIG. 1,

FIG. 9 is a detail view of one of the folding belt guide rollers taken along line 9-9 of FIG. 1,

FIG. 11 is a fragmentary perpsective view of the folding unit,

FIG. 12 is a sectional view on an enlarged scale of one of the folding discs,

FIG. 13 is a plan view of a box blank in open condition,

FIG. 14 is a view similar to FIG. 13 of a folded box blank, and

FIG. 15 is a plan view of a box blank that is misaligned.

Referring now to the drawings, the open box blank 11, illustratively shown in FIG. 13, is of conventional type and comprises four rectangular panels A, B, C, and D defined by score lines 12, 13 and 14; panels A, C and B,

D, respectively being of the same dimensions, the panels A and D defining the outer panels. The side edges 15 of the panels are suitably scored for ready folding thereof and each of said edges 15 has a rectangular flap 16 extending laterally therefrom. In addition, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 13 the end edge 17 of panel A has a connector flap 18 formed integral therewith to which glue may be applied so that when the outer panels A, D are folded inwardly to the position shown in FIG. 14, the connector flap 18 will be positioned beneath the end edge 19 and will be secured thereto.

In order to fold the panels A and B, a folding unit is provided which comprises a conveyer 21 including a pair of elongated parallel bars or rails 22, each of the ends of which at the inlet 23 of the conveyor has an inwardly extending shaft 24 on which a pulley 25 is mounted. Positioned at the outlet end 26 of the conveyer is a pair of transversely spaced parallel upright standards 27, 28, clearly shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 4.

Extending transversely between said standards 27 and 28 and rotatably mounted therein are a plurality of shafts, illustratively four in number designated by the numerals 31, 32, 33 and 34. As is clearly shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the shafts 31 and 33 lie in the same horizontal plane; the

' shaft 32 extends substantially directly beneath the shaft 31 and the shaft 34 is beneath the shafts 31, 33 and positioned substantially midway therebetween.

As is also clearly shown in FIG. 4, the shafts 31, 33

extend through a mounting plate 35 as does the shaft 34, and the shaft 32, illustratively is clear. of said mounting plate.

\ As is shown in FIG. 4, the mounting plate is secured to one end of one of the rails 22, said rails being suitably supported on the frame of the machine so that they will be retained in spaced parallel relationship, and movable toward and away from each other if desired to adjust the spacing therebetween.

Referring to FIG. 4, the shaft 31 which has a longitudinal groove 41 extending the length thereof, has a pulley 42 secured thereto in fixed relation thereon. Freely rotatable on the shaft 31 is a second pulley 43 which is also free to move axially on said shaft 31. The pulley 43 is rotatably mounted on the plate 35 on one side thereof and has secured thereto on the other side thereof a passed by sprocket chain 45 which engages a second sprocket wheel 46, also rotatably mounted on plate 35 on the same side as sprocket wheel 44 and keyed to the shaft 33 so as to rotate therewith, but free to move axially thereof by reason of the groove 47 in shaft 33.

By reason of the free mount of pulley 43 and sprocket wheel 44 on shaft 31 and the keyed mount of sprocket wheel 46 on shaft 33, the sprocket wheels 44 and 46 are free to slide longitudinally along shafts 31, 33 when the rail 22 on which plate 35 is mounted is moved toward the other rail 22 to adjust the spacing between the pulleys 42 and 43 mounted on shaft 31.

The shaft 34 also mounts a pair of pulleys 54, 55. The pulley 55 is secured to shaft 34 by being keyed to the longitudinal groove 53 therein and is aligned with the pulley 42, the pulley 55 rotating with said shaft 34. The pulley 54 is rotatably mounted on the plate 35 and is keyed to the shaft 34 so that it will be rotated by said shaft but be free to move longitudinally of the shaft with movement of the plate 35. The pulley 54 is longitudinally aligned with the pulley 43 as is clearly shown and the pulleys 25, 54 and 25, 55 are also longitudinally aligned.

The shaft 32 mounts an elongated roller 56. As is clearly shown in FIG. 5, for example, the roller 56 is mounted substantially directly beneath the shaft 31 which carries the pulleys 42 and 43. Each of the ends of shaft 32 extends through a hub 57 and are secured thereto as shown in FIG. 6 laterally displaced from the axis thereof. The hubs are rotatably mounted in bushings 58 secured by bracket 58 to standards 27, 28. As a result of such eccentric mount of the shaft 32 in hubs 57, upon rotation of the shaft 32 the hub 57 will rotate in bushing 58 and the roller 56 may be moved toward and away from the pulleys 42 and 43. To effect rotation of the shaft 32, as is clearly shown in FIGS. 4 and 6, a handle 59 is provided having a hub 59 at one end secured to the portion 60 of the shaft 32 extending beyond the hub 57 mounted on the standard 28. The handle 59 between its ends has an enlarged portion 61 with an arcuate slot 62 through which extends a threaded stud 63 secured to the standard 28, the center of the hub 57 serving as the origin of the arcuate slot 62. The threaded stud 63 carries a suitable locknut thereon so that when the free end 64 of the handle 59 is moved to adjust the position of the roller 56, the locknut can be tightened to retain the roller 56 in set position.

Each of the pairs of pulleys 25, 54 and 25, 55 carries an endless conveyer belt 65, 65', the upper runs 66 of which are supported by idler rollers 67 also mounted on bars or rails 22 as shown in FIG. 11.

Extending parallel to bars 22 are parallel bars 68 which extend in the plane above that of bars 22 and above and along the inner edges 69 of conveyer belts 65, 65', the bars 68 being supported by upright supports 71 suitably mounted so they are vertically movable.

As shown in FIG. 7, each of the bars 68 has a horizontal elongated plate 72 extending laterally outward from the upper edge thereof, the free edge of each of said plates having a depending skirt 73, the lower edge 74 of which is slightly above the plane of the upper run 66 of conveyer belts 65, 65'.

Each of the bars 68 has a plurality of rollers 75 mounted on the outer surface thereof and adapted to urge the box blank 11 against the conveyer belts 65, 65 in the manner hereinafter described.

The belts 65, 65' in conjunction with the rollers 75, thus serve as a conveyer successively to advance the open box blanks 11 as they are fed by driven pull rollers 76 to the inlet 23 of the conveyer in any suitable manner such as by a feeding equipment of the type shown in Patent No. 2,995,361.

In the illustrative embodiment herein shown, there is positioned laterally of the inlet 23 of the conveyer, a glue roller 81 which illustratively rotates in a glue tank 82 and a pressure roller 83 is positioned directly over the glue roller to urge the connector flap 18 thereagainst to insure application of glue to the undersurface of said flap as the blanks are advanced.

It is of course to be understood that where the folded boxes are of the type which are subsequently closed by the application of a gummed tape or other means, which would be applied after the boxes have been folded, the glue roller could be dispensed with.

Secured as by screws 85, FIG. 11, to the inner sides of each of the ends 86 of the bars 68 is a plate 87 which protrudes beyond such ends 86. Secured to the protruding ends of each of the plates 87 is a block 89, the undersurface of which is beveled as at 91, FIG. 8.

Affixed as by screws 92 to the beveled surface of each of the blocks 89 is the end of a rigid elongated strip 93 which extends longitudinally of the associated bars 68.

Each of the strips 93 is thus inclined, and each has a plurality of stud shafts 94 (FIG. 11) rising therefrom and inclined outwardly, said shafts being longitudinally aligned and each carrying a disc 95 rotatably mounted thereon.

As shown in FIG. 12, the top and bottom peripheries of each of the discs 95 is beveled as at 96, the angle of the bevel being such that the undersur'face 97 of the outer edge of the disc will be in substantially a horizontal plane, with' such outer edge extending slightly beyond the outer edge 98 of the associated conveyor belt 65.

Although any number of discs may be provided, two are desired, and illustratively three are provided on each of the strips 93, the discs on the strips 93 being transversely aligned as shown in FIG. 1.

Means are provided to fold the end panels A and D of the box blank inwardly as the blanks are advanced by the conveyer belts 65, 65'. To this end, as shown in FIG. 1, a pair of folding belts 101, 102 are associated respectively with the conveyor 21 on each side thereof. Each of the belts rides around a pair of pulleys 103, 43 and 104, 42 respectively, the pulleys 10 3, 104 being mounted on stud shafts 105 extending laterally outward from the bars 22 adjacent the inlet 23 of the conveyer.

The upper run 108 of each of the belts 101, 102, as shown in FIGS. 2, 7 extends from the pulleys 103, 104 respectively over rollers 11 1, 11 1 which are inclined upwardly then against cone roller 112, 1 12', mounted on vertical axes and the periphery of each of which is inclined outwardly from the lower end thereof as shown in FIG. 11, then beneath horizontal rollers 1 13, 113 (FIG. 11) which thus complete the twisting of belts 101, 102 through angles of 180 degrees so that they are horizontal. The belts then ride up around pulleys 43, 42; between vertical rollers 1l15 which twist the belts 101, 102 to vertical position then over inclined rollers 116, 116' and beneath and around the pulleys 103, 104.

As such folding belts are well known in the art, no further description thereof is deemed necessary.

In order to have the panel A of the box blank 11 fold inwardly prior to panel D in the manner hereinafter to be described, the cone roller 112 associated with the belt 101 is in advance of the cone roller 112' associated with the belt 102 as shown in FIG. 1.

Means are provided to soften the creased folded edges 120 (FIG. 9) of the box blanks 11 so that the box blanks may more readily be squared in the manner hereinafter to be described.

To this end as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a plurality of adjustable crushing rollers 121 are provided located after the discs 95. The rollers are suitably mounted on the rails 22 on vertical longitudinally aligned stud shafts so that their inner periphery will be engaged by the folded edges 120 of the box blanks as they are advanced.

According to the invention, means are provided to adjust at will the speed of the conveyor belts 101, 102 with respect to each other and with respect to the speed of the conveyor belts 65, 65 which are driven at a fixed predetermined speed.

As shown in FIG. 4, a right angle drive 131 is pro vided, the input of which is driven by a shaft 132 which in turn is driven by the main drive motor (not shown) of the equipment. The output shaft of the unit 131 mounts two sprocket wheels 133 and 134. Sprocket wheel 133 is connected by sprocket chain 135 to a sprocket wheel 136 mounted at the end of shaft 34.

Associated with the right angle drive member 131 are variable speed drive units 141, 142 which are identical. Although the variable speed drive units may be of any conventional type, illustratively a variable speed drive unit of the type put out by the Link Belt Company under the trademark P.I.V. is employed.

Each of the variable speed drive units has an input shaft 143, an output shaft 144 and a control shaft (not shown) rotation of which changes the speed of rotation of the output shaft 144 with respect to the speed of rotation of the input shaft 143. The control shaft may be manually controlled, but in the illustrative embodiment is preferably electrically controlled by a suitable electric motor 145 controlled by pushbuttons 146 on standard 28 so that the motor 145, which is of the reversible type, can turn either in one direction or another to either increase or decrease the speed of the output shaft 144 with respect to the input shaft 143.

As is clearly shown in FIG. 4, each of the shafts 143, 144 of each variable speed drive unit 141, 142 mounts a sprocket wheel 1, 152 respectively. The sprocket wheels 151 of the variable speed drive units 141, 142 are driven by sprocket wheel 134 by means of a sprocket chain 153 which rides around the sprocket wheels 134 and 151 as well as around a takeup sprocket wheel 155 which can be moved in conventional manner (not shown) to adjust the tension on sprocket chain 153. The sprocket Wheel 152 of drive unit 141 is connected by sprocket chain 156 to a sprocket wheel 1'57 mounted on a stud shaft 158 which in turn is rotatably mounted on the standard 27. The stud shaft 158 also mounts a gear 159 rotatable with sprocket wheel 157, which gear 159 engages a gear 161 mounted at the end of shaft 3l1. The sprocket wheel 152 of drive unit 142 is connected by sprocket chain 163 to a sprocket wheel 164 mounted a the end of shaft 33.

Operation In the operation of the equipment, the main drive motor (not shown) is energized to rotate the shaft 132 (FIG, 4) and through right angle drive :131, rotates the sprocket wheels 133 and 134. Rotation of these sprocket wheels will, through sprocket chain 135 and sprocket wheel 136, rotate shaft 34 on which pulleys 54 and 55 are mounted so that the upper runs 66 of conveyer belts 65, 65' riding around these pulleys will be advanced to- Ward the outlet 26 of the conveyer 21. Rotation of the sprocket wheel 134 will, through sprocket chain 153, rotate the sprocket wheels 151 of variable drive units 141, 142 and therefore will cause the output drive shafts 144 of said units and the sprockets 152 mounted thereon, also to rotate. Rotation of sprocket wheel 152 of drive unit 141 will, through sprocket chain 156, cause sprocket wheel 157 and gear 159 thereon to rotate which in turn will rotate gear 161 and shaft 31. Since the pulley 42 is keyed to said shaft 31, it will rotate therewith, thereby causing the upper run 108 of conveyer belt 102 to move toward the outlet 26. As the pulley 43 on shaft 31 is idly mounted thereon, it is apparent that rotation of the shaft 31 as above described, will not affect rotation of the pulley 43. Rotation of the output shaft 144 of variable drive unit 142, will cause rotation of the associated sprocket wheel 152 and through sprocket chain 163, rotate sprocket wheel 164 mounted on shaft 33. Rotation of shaft 33 will cause the sprocket wheel 46, mounted thereon, to rotate and through sprocket chain 45 will rotate the sprocket wheel 44 and hence rotate the pulley 43 rigidly connected to said sprocket wheel 44. Rotation of 6 pulley 43 will thereupon cause movement of the upper run 108 of belt 101 toward outlet 26.

As the leading edge 171 of each box blank 11 is advanced past the pull rollers 76, such box blank being fed from a stack, for example, in any suitable manner such as by the vacuum feeding device shown in Patent No. 2,995,361, the box blank 11 will be moved between the upper runs 66 of the conveyer belts 65, 65' and the idler rollers 75. Since the upper bars 68 have been vertically adjusted so that the rollers 75 thereon will effectively press the box blanks 11 against the conveyer belts 65, 65', such box blanks will be securely gripped for advance by said belts 65, 65'.

As the box blank !11 is advanced in the above manner, the connector flap 18 thereof will be moved between the glue roller 81 and pressure roller 83 which, in conventional manner, will apply a coating of glue to the undersurface of such flap. With continued advance of the box blank 11 by the conveyer 21, the end panels A and D of the box blank 11, which extend outwardly beyond the skirts 73 (FIG. 7) will be moved into juxtaposition to the folding belts 101, 102.

Referring to FIGS. 1, 3 and 11, the folding belts 101, 102, due to their incline will cause the panels A and D to fold upwardly about their score lines 12 and 14. As the cone roller 112 (FIGS. 1 and 11) is in advance of the cone roller 112', the panel A will be folded inwardly by the belt 101 at a faster rate than the panel D (FIG. 8).

When the leading edge 171 of the box blank 11 is advanced past the cone roller 112, since the blank is beneath the bars 68, it will be guided beneath the discs and the unders-urface 97 of the discs will press the portions of the panel A and D inwardly of the score lines 12 and 14 against the conveyer belts 65, 65'.

As the conveyer belts 65, 65' are advancing and as the box blanks 11 are urged thereagainst by the discs 95, the discs will rotate so that the forward'movement of the box blanks 11 will not be in any way restrained. As a result, the box blanks will be advanced without skewing.

With further advance of the box blanks 11, the folding belt 101 (FIG. 8) will have been deflected by the cone roller 1 12 to bend the panel A inwardly past vertical position and the folding belt 102 will have been deflected by the cone roller 112' to bend the panel D to substantially vertical position.

As the outer peripheries of the discs are substantially aligned with the score lines 12, 14 between panels A, B and C, D as shown in FIG. 8, the transverse distance between the score lines 12 and 14 will be maintained at a desired amount based on the preset transverse spacing between the parallel bars 68.

With the further advance of the blanks, the upper run 108 of the folding belt 101 will first move the panel A to substantially a horizontal position and thereafter the upper run 108 of the folding belt 102 will move the panel D to substantially a horizontal position so that the glued connector flap 18 of panel A will be engaged by the corresponding portion of panel D adjacent its edge 19 as shown in FIG. 14.

Thereafter, the runs 108 of folding belts 101, 102 will be moved to horizontal position by rollers 113, 113 to press the folded box blanks against belts 65, 65' to advance the folded box blanks past the crushing rollers 121 on each side of the box blanks, the rollers reacting against the respective folded edges of the box blanks to crush and soften such edges.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 4, it is to be noted that from the position from the rollers 113, 113' to the pulleys 42, 43, the run 108 of belts 101, 102 is in a horizontal plane closely adjacent the upper run 66 of belts 65, 65' and the folded box blank is sandwiched therebetween.

In this position, therefore, the run 108 of belts 101,102 will be pressing against the entire top surface of panels A and D.

If the operator should find that with a given run of boxes the edges of the panels A and D are aligned with the edges of panels B and C, as shown in FIG. 14, then no adjustment is required of the equipment. If, however, the operator should find that the leading edge, for example, of panel A is rearwardly of the leading edge of the panel B immediately therebelow, as shown in FIG. 15, so that the panels are not squared, then the operator will increase the speed of the belt 101 with respect to the fixed speed of belt 6 5 immediately therebelow. This adjustment is readily accomplished by means of the pushbuttons on standard 28 controlling the variable drive unit 142. Thus, by pressing the appropriate pushbutton, the speed of the output shaft 144 of drive unit M2 is increased so that the speed of shaft 36 driven thereby will be correspondingly increased as will be the speed of pulley 43 driven by said shaft through the transmission comprising sprocket wheels 44-, 46 and sprocket chain 45.

As the speed of the belt 101 is slightly increased, it is apparent that since the two belts d5, 65' and the belt 102 are still moving at the same speed, by reason of the frictional engagement of the run 108 of belt 101 against the top surface of panel A, as shown in FIG. 9, the speed of movement of such top panel A will be slightly advanced through the spiral folding belts. As a result, the leading edge of panel A will be moved into alignment with the leading edge of pane-l B immediately therebelow so that the boxes delivered from the conveyer will then be substantially perfectly square.

It is apparent that such lack of squareness as above described, will be substantially consistent for a given run of blanks of a given size that are folded, and the operator when he observes the fact that boxes are not square as they are discharged from the conveyer 21, will make the necessary adjustment, and once the adjustment is made the boxes will thereupon emerge substantial-1y square as above described.

It is of course obvious that if both of the folded panels A and D are not square and, for example, their leading edges are behind the leading edges of the panels B and C immediately therebelow, the speed of conveyer belt 102 can also be slightly increased as desired by merely adjusting the variable speed drive unit 14d which, through the transmission comprising sprocket wheels 144 of drive unit 141, sprocket chain 156, sprocket wheel '157, gears 159, 161 and shaft 31, will vary the speed of the pulley 42 and hence of the belt 102.

If it should happen that either or both of the panels A and D have their leading edges in front of the leading edges of the panels B and C immediately therebelow, then either or both of the panels A and D can be moved back- Ward with respect to the panels B and C therebelow by appropriate adjustments of the variable speed drive units 141, 142 to slow up their movement.

By reason of the fact that the discs 12 1 will crush and soften the blanks, this will facilitate relative movement of the panels A and D as above described to effect squaring thereof.

With the equipment above described, it is apparent that the folded box blanks that finally emerge from the conveyer 21 will be dependably squared, thereby insuring that the folded box when open, will also be square so that no damage will be done to the corners thereof which could render the boxes unusable and also will facilitate automatic opening of the folded boxes.

In the embodiment shown where glue is applied to the connector flap, due to the fact that the glue used will not harden quickly, the movement of the panels A and D as above described, for squaring thereof, is permitted.

If the folded boxes are of the type that have the adjacent edges of panels A and D connected by means of a tape subsequently applied, then in such case, of course, these boxes would not have the connector flap 18 and after the folded squared boxes emerge from the conveyer they will then be taken up by a conventional automatic taping equipment for subsequent connecting of the adjacent edges of the panels A and D by means of a tape.

It is further to be noted that the folded boxes may also have their adjacent edges connected by means of suitable stapling machines in which case the connector flap 18 would still be provided.

As many changes could be made in the above construction, and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope of the claims, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. Equipment for folding box blanks of the type having outer panels movable into edge to edge juxtaposition, said equipment having an inlet and an outlet, a conveyer to advance such box blanks in sequence from said inlet to said outlet, said conveyer comprising a shaft extending transversely across said outlet, a pair of spaced pulleys mounted on said shaft and rotatable thereof, a second pair of spaced axially aligned pulleys rotatably mounted adjacent the inlet, the pulleys at the inlet and outlet being longitudinally aligned respectively, an endless belt encompassing each pair of longitudinally aligned pulleys, means associated with said endless belts to retain thereagainst the portion of said box blank between the outer panels, said retaining means terminating in advance of said outlet, at second shaft extending transversely across said outlet in a plane above that of the first shaft, a third pair of spaced pulleys mounted on said second shaft, one of said pulleys being freely rotatable on said second shaft and the other pulley being secured to said second shaft to rotate therewith, a fourth pair of spaced pulleys mounted on axes extending transversely across the equipment, a pair of folding belts encompassing the pulleys of said third and fourth pairs, each of said folding belts being curved substantially degrees between the associated pulleys .to effect inward folding movement of said panels to bring their free edges into juxtaposition, each of said folding belts having a portion between the outlet and said retaining means lying in a horizontal plane parallel to and adjacent the parallel endless belts respectively to compress the folded panels against the portion of the box blank between said panels, each of said horizontal portions being adapted to engage the top surface of an associated outer panel, means to rotate said first shaft, means to rotate said second shaft and means to rotate the freely rotatable pulley on said second shaft independently of the rotation of the other pulley on said second shaft and means independently to vary the speed of rotation of said second shaft and the freely rotatable pulley, thereby to effect relative movement of at least one of said folded outer panels with respect to the other panels of said folded box blank as said folded box blank is advanced.

2. The combination set forth in claim =1 in which a drive unit is provided having an input shaft and an output shaft. means to rotate said input shaft, a pair of drive members on said output shaft, a transmission from one of said drive members to said first shaft, a pair of variable speed drive units each having an input shaft, an output shaft and a control shaft, a transmission from said other drive member to each of the input shafts of said variable speed drive unit and a transmission from the output shafts of each of said variable speed drive units to said second shaft and said freely rotatable pulley respectively.

3. The combination set forth in claim 1 in which a roller extends transversely across said outlet beneath the pulleys on said first shaft, and means to vary the spacing between said roller and said pulleys.

4. The combination set forth in claim 1 in which a third shaft is provided extending transversely across said outlet in substantially the same horizontal plane as said second shaft, a plate through which said second and third shafts extend,'means mounting said plate for transverse movement, said freely rotatable pulley being mounted on said plate, a sprocket Wheel secured to said pulley, a secand sprocket rwheel secured to said third shaft, a sprocket chain connecting said sprocket wheels, and means to retate said third shaft to rotate the sprocket Wheel thereon and the sprocket wheel and freely rotatable pulley.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,931,277 4/1960 La Bombard 93-52 5 BERNARD STICKNEY, Primary Examiner. 

